


The Last Capulets

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Romeo x Juliet
Genre: Cousin Incest, Crying, F/M, First Kiss, Kissing, Protectiveness, Revenge, Yuletide, Yuletide 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tybalt comforts Juliet after their encounter with the priest</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Capulets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/gifts).



> Thanks so much to my great beta, Morbane!

Tybalt looked down at the crying girl. She was so weak - too weak to properly avenge the family name of Capulet. His knave of an uncle had had two legitimate sons in his precious household. How had the one girl managed to escape? How had she survived all these years since? True, she dressed as a boy, throwing Montague's searchers off the right track, but she was barely convincing as a warrior. Her only saving grace was that no one had taken note of her tender features and discovered the soft girl hiding beneath the tunic and wig.

She had played at the vigilante, her servants letting her believe that she was doing some good, when anyone could see that she was merely provoking the so-called _Prince_ Montague further. The martial law had been long in coming, and her actions had only hastened it along. She didn't even hate the man who had killed her -- _their_ family.

But of course, she had been so young at the time of the attack and her escape. She couldn't remember the world as it had been before, when the Capulet name had been one of benevolence and prosperity (His uncle's disavowal of him as a bastard notwithstanding). All she would know would be the stories of the family, told by its servants, who even to this day, continued to die to protect it. She had no idea what real crimes Montague and his family were capable of, so she had no capacity to really, truly _hate_ him. Hers was the righteous hatred of a child, rather than the burnished hatred of one who had lived through the worst of the revolution, as he had.

Tybalt glanced back at his young cousin. She was weak, and feminine, and smelled of their family's irises. Tears streamed down her face, not from her own failure, but from his actions. There was no place for this girl-child in a rebellion! He should be slapping some sense into her. He should be throwing her across his dragonsteed's withers and dropping her in the nearest convent.

And yet, his body moved without his mind's complete cooperation, stepping forward, arms wrapping around her. She sagged into his embrace, her tears soaking into his dark cloak.

He had spent years associating the Capulet servants and their beloved, fabled, _Juliet_ with the family that had scorned him. He had spent years prepared to hate and ridicule her. But this girl, why did his sympathies go out to her? Why did he want to comfort her? Why did he want her to stop crying? It wasn't that a crying woman made him uncomfortable - he had been around his fair share. No, why did Juliet's tears in particular affect him this way? Why did he want to protect this worshiped girl? Why did he want to bring down Montague on her behalf?

He had always planned to kill the traitor himself, but that had been out of personal pride, revenge for his own birthing, and scorn for the last legitimate scion of the Capulet house. Never had he wanted to enact his revenge to _spare_ her the task. He knew the burdens of their family's sword far better than she, and until this moment he had determined that he would show her the truth, whether it broke her or not. Why now did he want to take back these last few moments? Why did he want to lift that burden?

Almost in answer to his questions, Juliet lifted her head slightly, her damp cheeks shining in the faint light. He leaned down, perhaps to brush her tears away, he was unsure. But their lips met, in a hesitant, gentle kiss.

Tybalt had never been hesitant or gentle in his life - those were weaknesses that a bastard son of Capulet house could ill afford. But with Juliet pressed into his body, with her small, delicate hand upon his shoulder, her soft, full lips against his own, he was as gentle as a dainty nobleman.

The kiss was long, filled with a quiet passion that he had never experienced before. Part of him didn't want it to end, but he also knew that someone must spot them soon. Reluctantly, he pulled away. She looked up at him through her damp lashes, a confused but not unhappy look on her petite face.

"Tybalt?"

"Someone may be watching," he murmured. "This place isn't safe." Quickly he pulled her towards his dragonsteed and helped her mount, swinging up behind her. There was a place where they could go, where they would be safe and protected from prying eyes. They needed to talk about the future of the rebellion and the future of the house of Capulet. And that kiss.

They leapt up into the sky, winging powerfully through the clear night air. The scattered lights of Neo Verona spread out beneath them, a pretty but painful reminder of what had once been. Back, before the slaughter, every window had blazed a cheery welcome. Now, only a handful of meager lamps illuminated each block. Tybalt clenched his fists around the reins. This was but one more example of the corruption that Montague had spread since that night. This was but one more thing that he had to set right.

Juliet leaned into him, her warm presence bringing him back to the moment and dissolving the heat of his anger. This was also what she had sworn to do, albeit in the naive and foolish manner of a child, rather than the brutal manner that he had. Her heart fluttered against his chest, the slight pulse of it striking through their cloaks and straight to his own heart. It reminded him of the heartbeat of his mother, strong beneath his cheek as she held him close. It was such a distant memory that sometimes he thought he'd half made it up. But here, with Juliet in his arms, he believed it was real.

She was not the last Capulet. But _they_ were.

She wasn't strong enough to bring about another rebellion, but he, on her behalf, was. With him leading them, the Capulet conspiracy could strike down _Prince_ Montague. With him wielding their family's sword, they would see the Iris banner flown high above the city again. And with Juliet at his side, they would reclaim Neo Verona.


End file.
